


tangled

by janaverse



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: A LOT OF DIALOGUE, Angst with resolution, Explicit Language, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-27 04:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19782925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janaverse/pseuds/janaverse
Summary: from this prompt posted by @promptdumpster on tumblr on 7/8/2019:"Why are you here?""Don't ask that as if you don't know the answer already.""They want you to bring me back. And if you can't?""You know that with me there's no ifs. That's why they chose *me* for this mission."__________________________________________________________________________________a huge thank you to @deejayers for encouraging me to write this!!





	tangled

Duo stood just inside the doorway; arms folded across his chest. He hadn’t been expecting company, and he certainly didn’t want any; especially not the man he found standing in the hallway outside his apartment. "Why are you here?"

Heero probably wasn’t expecting Duo to be civil toward him, and Duo held no illusions he was going to get a civil response to his question.

"Don't ask that as if you don't know the answer already."

Duo rolled his eyes. "They want you to bring me back. And if you can't?"

"You know that with me there's no ifs. That's why they chose *me* for this mission."

Duo sighed. The man was still too damn cocky for his own good. “You never change do you, Heero.”

Heero responded with a shrug of one shoulder. “Can I come in?”

Duo had no intention of making this easy for Heero. “Why? I am perfectly capable of telling you no just as easily from right here.”

"I am not leaving without you, Duo. Whether you are conscious or unconscious when I do it is completely up to you.”

Duo grimaced, but slowly stepped aside, allowing Heero to enter his apartment and closed the door behind him. “Fine.”

He watched as Heero looked around and eventually walked across the room to seat himself on the couch.

“Are you working?”

“Not your business, Yuy.”

“Why are you being so hostile?”

“I would have prepared a list if I knew you were coming.”

“Duo…”

“You wanna tell me what the hell is so important that Preventers sent their Number One Special Agent out to try and recruit little old me back into their midst after all this time. And if you say that Relena was kidnapped again, I swear to god, Yuy, I am going to deck you!”

Heero took Duo’s small tirade in stride, staring defiantly at the finger Duo was pointing at him.

“No one has been kidnapped.”

“Yet.” Duo reminded him.

“Right.” Heero agreed, recalling his earlier ultimatum.

Duo remained near the front door, one hand on his hip as he rested his shoulder against the doorframe. Heero could sense the tension in Duo’s posture despite how casual Duo was trying to appear. “Seriously, Yuy, I am not interested in going back. End of story.”

Heero leaned against the back of the couch and crossed his legs, looking intently at Duo. “Why?”

“Don’t get too comfortable there, you’re not staying.”

“Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“What?”

“It is nearly 18:00. I was just wondering if you have had your dinner yet, Duo.”

“Can’t you just say you’re hungry? I’m not in the mood for your fucking games, Yuy.”

Duo pushed off the doorframe and walked toward where Heero was sitting. He reached over on his way there, grabbing a pile of papers off the kitchen counter, and held them out to Heero. “Here. They all deliver. Knock yourself out.”

Heero looked up at Duo and took the offered menus with a nod of thanks as his gaze followed Duo’s swift retreat from the room.

Cursing the man under his breath, Heero used both of his thumbs to gently rub at his temples. He was acutely aware that convincing Duo to return with him was going to be a challenge. Duo Maxwell was undoubtedly one of the most stubborn men he had ever met. There were many times when Heero admired that trait in him, but now was not one of them.

Waiting a few minutes before standing, Heero followed the path through the apartment that Duo had taken earlier. He found the former pilot and Preventer Agent standing in the window of what Heero could see was Duo’s bedroom. His attention appeared to be fully devoted to whatever it was he was seeing outside.

Duo’s posture was considerably less tense than it had been earlier; almost relaxed by comparison. Heero was fully aware that Duo knew he was standing there, and so he interpreted Duo’s current stance as a positive sign.

“I really am sorry for whatever part I might have played in your decision to leave, Duo.”

“You are still so full of yourself, Yuy. Not that I’m surprised.”

“Duo…”

Duo turned from the window to face Heero and Heero could see some hint of resignation there, along with a semi-healthy dose of Duo’s temper. “Look, I know you didn’t agree with what I did, Heero. You made that pretty fucking clear. And I don’t need you to tell me that I suck at following the rules, okay! I am the first to admit that! But *you* were supposed to have my back, dammit! That is what partners do! And don’t tell me you didn’t know *exactly* what you were signing up for when you agreed to us being partners!”

“I did know.”

“Then what the hell, Heero. Why?”

Heero knew that what he was about to say would not fail to escalate Duo’s anger, but it needed to be said.

“Our partnership would have been very short lived, Duo. In case you have not noticed, I no longer have a death wish. Can you say the same?”

Duo’s reaction did not disappoint Heero.

“I do *not* have a fucking death wish! We take risks, Heero, really fucking big ones! That is exactly what they pay us to do. Tell me I’m wrong!”

“So you are saying that it was a calculated risk?” Heero shook his head. “That is not how it looked from where I was standing, Duo.”

“My life, Yuy.”

“Yes, Duo, it is. No one has said otherwise.”

“Everyone was so fucking quick to judge, you included! You think I’m gonna stick around and deal with that shit every day, Heero?”

Heero could see Duo’s point, though from his perspective it was very skewed. Perhaps there were circumstances Heero was not aware of; might have learned about if he had sat down and talked to Duo about what had happened in any kind of detail. None of that mattered now.

“And the rest of it?” Heero asked.

Duo sighed loudly. “There is no rest of it.”

“So that’s the end? Of us too?”

Duo shrugged. “I guess so.”

“And is that my fault as well, Duo?”

“Not entirely, no. What do you want me to say, Heero? That I acted impulsively? That I was an idiot? Fine! I was an impulsive idiot! Happy?”

Heero was not happy and he was sure that he did not look happy. “You are not an idiot, Duo.”

Duo snorted. “So I’m just impulsive?”

“You are not *just* anything, Duo.”

Duo looked away and focused his attention back out the window. It was dark outside, and Heero did not think that Duo was going to find whatever it was he was looking for out there.

“If I jumped to any incorrect conclusions about the incident, Duo, I apologize. Maybe we should have talked about it.”

“Yeah. I dunno, Heero, maybe it’s wrong of me to think you should have known better.” Duo said with a shrug, still facing the window. “I guess I want to believe that there’s someone that gets me. Yanno?”

Heero did not like the melancholy undertones in Duo’s voice. Duo thought that he was the one who understood him and Heero did, but maybe not enough. “I want you to come back, Duo.”

Duo made a soft sound of disbelief. “I sorta figured that out when you showed up on my front door a little while ago, Heero. I didn’t even ask how the hell you found me.”

“You are assuming that I lost you in the first place.”

Duo laughed then, a short bark of a sound and shook his head from side to side. “I really am done with Preventers, Heero. Seriously. It’s just not for me. I’m not cut out for it.”

Heero disagreed. Strongly.

“We make a damn good team, Duo. Or are you going to deny that?”

Duo turned from the window to face him then. “On *and* off the field?” Duo asked. He was grinning and Heero was pleased to see it, even if it was one of Duo’s careless grins.

“Are you willing to risk never finding that out, Maxwell?”

“I might be.”

To Heero, that was absolutely the wrong answer. The lack of conviction in Duo’s comeback convinced Heero that Duo knew it as well.

“Can we talk about it?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what we’ve been doing since you got here, Heero.”

Heero grunted. “I have been asking you serious questions, Duo and you are giving me nothing but flippant answers.”

“So it’s the usual then.”

“Duo…”

“Look, Heero, just go back and tell them I said no. Tell them that I am perfectly happy and extremely gratified currently doing whatever you want to tell them it is I have been doing for the past year. Stop trying to make this more complicated than it needs to be.”

“You are the one that made it complicated when you left.”

Duo shook his head again. “It isn’t complicated for me, Heero.”

Sensing the conversation had come to an end, Heero walked back to the main living space and reclaimed his position on the couch. He picked up the stack of menus and rifled through them. He took his cell out from the pocket of his jeans and placed an order ensuring there would be enough food for them both.

It wasn’t until the doorbell rang with the food delivery nearly an hour later, that Duo resurfaced from his room. He glanced over toward the couch as he walked by, looking unphased at finding Heero still there.

Duo retrieved the pizza and set it on the kitchen counter, and then went to get two bottles of water from the fridge. Not waiting for Duo to invite him into kitchen, Heero followed Duo into the room, grabbing a slice of pizza on his way.

They stood as far from one another as the tiny space would allow, and Heero took of bite of his slice, watching Duo open his bottle of water. He was leaning heavily against the wall, tipping his head back as he took a long drink.

“No one sent me here, Duo.”

Duo looked over at Heero with surprise at his admission. “So that was just some made up bullshit you handed me?”

Heero shook his head, confusing Duo even further. “You are the one that assumed the Preventers sent me to bring you back. I merely went along with it.”

Duo chuckled, and Heero was glad that Duo was finding some humor in their conversation. “You are something else, Heero. You know that?”

“Something worth coming back for?”

Duo did that nervous thing he did then, reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck; just below his hairline. “Shit, Yuy. What the hell am I supposed to say to that?”

Heero shrugged. If Duo was asking for his help to answer that question, then that itself was the answer. Heero did not want to believe that was the case.

He waited out the silence, watching Duo for any indication he was going to say more.

“I’ll probably be just as shitty a boyfriend as I was a partner. Yanno, just so you know what you might be getting yourself into.”

“You were not a shitty partner, Duo.”

“Right. Just every once in a while.”

“I am willing to take my chances.”

“Yeah… I figured you say that.”

“So you are saying I am predictable.”

Duo laughed again, louder and more earnest this time and Heero smiled at the sound of it.

“Nah, you somehow manage to surprise me every now and then, Heero.”

“Your choice is to come consciously then.”

“I suppose it is.”

If that was all he was going to get out of Duo, he would accept it; for now.

Heero nodded to acknowledge Duo’s response, bringing the slice of pizza to his mouth and taking a bite. It was nearly cold, but it was late, and he was hungry. He chewed on it slowly, watching Duo from the corner of his eye as the other man ate.

The silence would likely have been awkward without the meal, and Heero was glad that he had the foresight to order something. Duo could hide behind that slice of pepperoni pie for as long as he needed to, but when he was done with it, that mouth of his was all Heero’s.

i would love to hear what you think! i am still a bit rusty after all these years, but determined to get my mojo back!!


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